League Assignment: What Do You Want?

 

When you hit up the toy store, thrift store, flea market, or comic shop, what are some of the things you’re actively hunting?    

I regularly stop at any thrift store I can get to.  There are five in my hometown. We sadly lost our Salvation Army store in 2005 (I was hired there two months before they announced the closing).  When I can get the next town over, I try to stop at their Sal Army, a large store. Goodwill has been in our town since 2001 and the other thrift stores in my town are local ones , some of which are only open three times a week each.  And when I can I try  to get to the nearest Savers store.  For those who don't know Savers is the same chain as Value Village (in the Pacific Northwest and Canada) and Village des Valeurs (in French-speaking Canada).

My tendency whenever I walk into a thrift store is to look for books. They can be between 50 cents and $1, depending on the store.  I nearly always head to this section.  You never know what you will find, though lately I have not found any I wanted and some of the stores I regularly visit seem to not have gotten any new ones.  Some seem to still be on the shelves after some time.  it's been a while since I've been able to find any of the Hannah Swensen books by Joanne Fluke.    I still check out books from the library whenever I can. Nevertheless, I still have a lot of books new and used that I need to read.  I often get gift card from Barnes and Noble for Christmas.  I barely used the one I got last Christmas in April of this year. 

Clothes are another thing I take some time to look at  thrift stores.  None purchased lately, but I will if they are in decent shape and I like them. 

 And since it's nearing Halloween, there are displays for costumes and accessories in thrift stores now.  Most of these have been up since the beginning of September, some since the end of August.  I still haven't made a decision yet, but if a new costume is too expensive, the clothes and accessories at thrift stores are always there.

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It's early this week, so here are two others so far:

Garage Sale of Awesome

The 30ish Year Old Boy

Candy Corn Oreos

The Candy Corn Oreos still in the bag, on the counter.

They eluded me last year, but yesterday at Target I found the Candy Corn Oreos and snagged a package.  Why they were so elusive last season, I don't know, but this season I got my first taste of the things.  When checking out at Target, the cashier asked how they tasted, so I had to tell her I hadn't yet had any of these things.  When I got home, I tried a few and hey tasted all right, not much different  from regular Oreos. But it was fun to try them and you can be sure I'll get me hands on them whenever I can, next year, if not again this year.  Who knows how long they will last this year on the store selves. Perhaps this is why they eluded my last year.

A whole Candy Corn Oreo, and one with the top removed,
showing the orange-and-yellow cream in the middle.

And speaking of elusive candy, this how the black cat Peeps candy has been for a few years now. I saw these Halloween versions of the Peeps several years ago, but have not seen them since.  The ghost and pumpkin Peeps seem to more common and I have already seen those in stores.  But where have all the black Cat Peeps gone?

League Assignment: Pet Peeves

Let’s all take a deep breath this week and let off a little steam. This week’s assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is…

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Pet peeves.

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With Halloween approaching, I'm sure many of you seen Halloween merchandise in stores for about a month now, including the costumes.  And you may already be aware that women's costumes over the last few seem to be "Sexy-this-or-that" with few non-sexy options.  I mean, these things looks like you would freeze to death in them, if you live in such a climate.  I'm in California, and our fall weather is unpredictable, but there is always the possibility of it getting cold on the last day of October. And I just can't imagine how cold it gets in some parts of the country on this night.  

This link gives a look at "men's vs. women's costumes."  Here is one image from that link:

Is there really any reason a woman can't buy the full-bodied costumes?  It bothers me that costumes labeled unisex (such as food and drinks) are almost always shown modeled by men, and are inevitably placed in the men's section at those temporary Halloween stores that pop up each year.  And that there are "slutty" versions of burgers, bananas and such, that don't even look like those things! 

And what's with the tank dress costumes?  These hardly even seem like a costume!  They look more like a glorified sundress with some product logo.  And there is a full-bodied Green M&M shown modeled by a woman, but all other colors of M&Ms are modeled by men, and yet the tank dress M&Ms comes in all the colors.  

For the record, there are some doctor and gangster costumes for women that aren't slutty.   

Notice that this unisex doctor costumes shows both a man and a women modeling it. 

And do men ever pout on the sexy women's costumes for the fun of it? They can, since it's Halloween And how do they feel about wearing them, I wonder?  

(All images taken from buycostumes.com, except for the sexy hamburger, from yandy.com)

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Other Leaguers in this week:

Cool and Collected

Nerd Cantina

Cavalcade of Awesome

Random Nerdness

Fortune and Glory Days

D.I. Treasures

Diary of a Dorkette

Pop Rewind

Nerd Out With Me

Garage Sale of Awesome

Halloween Decorations, Day Two

These actually went up lsat night after the photos taken and posted in yesterday's entry.  I wasn't sure if I'd get around to finish hanging the decorations then, but I did, and was too tired to take photos then.. But here they are now.

Halloween Decorating, Day One

OK, it's still a few days till the official blog countdown for Halloween starts.  But this year, as in the past, I want to get my decorations up before the first day of October.  So I started late this afternoon and here is what I have as of yet.  More to come over the next few days.

Getting Ready

It's almost time for the Countdown to Halloween and I'm getting the blog ready. As always, I'm looking forward to see what other bloggers come up with.  And it's going to be fun as usual.  I have begun decorating the outside of the house today, by stuffing my large pumpkin bag with newspaper.  Working to get all the decorations up before the first.

Now I need to decide on what to be this year!  It's getting harder.

Why Christmas Now?

Here is what I have seen over the last few days at my hometown Kmart.  Nothing new, as it seems to be this way every year at this time.  And I know I've ranted on this in past years.  I mean, it's the end of September, and some people haven't even decorated the house for Halloween.  I don;t intend to until next week sometime in order to have it up by the first of October.  And I still haven't decided on a costume yet. I don't want to out off that decision until the last minute, even though it's till more than a month.  I've got too many ideas right and can't seem to narrow them down!   And once again, I will be one of the bloggers in the yearly Countdown to Halloween.   Can't wait for that to begin!

All this being said, the last thing on my mind is Christmas.  But that's just the way retail is. A lot, if not all retails begin putting out Christmas before the calendar even switches to October.  So far, however,  I've only seen Christmas at Kmart and at Dollar Tree, even earlier than at Kmart.  My hometown Target, just up the road from Kmart, just barely got Halloween up about a week ago, pushing the discounted back-to-school items to the back walls.  And it seems weird seeing these fake Christmas trees in a middle section of Kmart near the aisles of Halloween costumes, accessories and decorations. It's like a real nightmare before Christmas!

League Assignment: Yard Sale Find

The find. What was your best/favorite yard sale or flea market find?

To the League: I'm baaack, and I'm first this week.  That's a first (no pun intended).  

I'm not all that into yard sales.  I pass by many of them while driving around town, but rarely have time to stop.  I live in a mobile home park and often see several of the home owners having yard sales.  Only once so far have I ever stopped at one, and it was one Sunday afternoon while walking a cross the street to the grocery store across the street from the park.  Among other things, the man was selling DVD for $2 each.   One I saw was Season One of "Friends."  I snagged this one.   It was unfortunately missing the first disc, something I did not know until I got home.  Still it was an interesting find, the last thing I'd expect to find at a yard sale.  Guess I need to hit more of them! 

FYI, I now have three of the ten seasons of "Friends" on DVD.  For my birthday one year, some co-workers at my former place of work gave me Season Four for my birthday that year. And later that same year, I still had some money left on gift card from Barnes & Noble, so I used to buy Season Seven. I chose that particular season because this was in 2009 when TV was transitioning to all digital, and my local Fox station (which was carrying "Friends" repeats at the time) wasn't coming in at the time.  They  were on Season Seven repeats then. 

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As I said earlier, I'm first this week so stay tuned for more League posts this week. 

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2013

Since you can sign up anytime until December 1, and I've already finished some of the previous challenges I'd signed up for and am going over on some, I decided to try another one.  Copied from the blog Book'd Out, here are the details for the Eclectic Reading Challenge:

I hope you will join me 2013 for the Eclectic Reader Challenge!

The aim of The Eclectic Reader 2013 Challenge is to push you outside your comfort zone by reading up to 12 books during the year from 12 different categories.

Join in:

• The challenge will run from January 1st to December 31st 2013. Participants may join at any time up until December 1st 2013

• Create a blog post committing to  your participation in this challenge.

*  If you don’t have a blog you are still welcome to sign up. You can create a shelf for the challenge at Goodreads or LibraryThing or a similar site Just include your name and a link to your shelf.

• Post your name, blog name, and the direct link to your challenge post in the Linky using the link below

Click here to enter your link to sign up for the challenge

• Select, read and review a book from each genre listed below during the year for a total of 12 books. A book may be in print, electronic or audio format.

*  You can choose your books as you go or create a list in advance. You may combine this challenge with others if you wish.

*  Where a book is identified by more than one genre eg historical romance, it may only count for either the historical fiction or romantic fiction genres – not both.

*  You can read your chosen titles in any order, at any pace, just complete the challenge by December 21st 2013 to be eligible for the prize drawing.

Categories

1. Translated fiction
2. Historical mystery
3. Romantic suspense
4. Made into a movie
5. New Adult
6. Urban Fantasy
7. Dystopian
8. Memoir
9. LGBT
10. Action Adventure
11. Humour
12. Published in 2013

If you need some ideas for what to read in the above categories I suggest you search Listopia at Goodreads for example click here for a list that includes New Adult titles

• Each time you read and review a book as part of this challenge, make sure you identify it by adding either a direct statement  and /or the challenge image badge to the post.

• Share your review with other challenge participants by posting your name/blog name and title of the book with a direct link to your review in the Linky.

Click here to enter your link to your reviews

Please take the time to visit a few links and leave a comment!

If you tweet add #eclecticreader or @bookdout

All participants that complete the challenge by December 31st 2012 will be eligible to win a book of their choice to the value of $15AUD from bookdepository.com or a $10US Amazon gift card or paypal funds of  US$10 to be drawn via random.org Jan  2014.

Click here to enter your link when you have completed the challenge!

Please CONTACT ME if you have any questions, I hope you will play along!

Signs That Fall is in the Air

Depending on where you live, it may not feel like fall is coming despite the equinox date being a little over two weeks away.  Here in California it still feels like summer, too hot to do chores or cook dinner, and too hot to put the shorts into seasonal retirement and break the socks out of their drawer just drawer just yet.  But there still other signs that the fall season is approaching.  Just walk into any retail store and you will see leftover barbecue supplies and pool equipment being put on clearance and the back-to-school supplies being reduced to 75 cents each.  This is to get ready to stock the stores for the big event of fall: Halloween.  

Yes, during the first week of September most stores begin stocking shelves with costumes, decorations, candy and other supplies for the big event on the last day of October.  So far in my town, only Kmart has begun stocking the Halloween stuff. Target has yet to push aside the left-over school supplies to stock halloween in the season display area.  I've visited the two store sin the last few days, but have yet go to Rite Aid to see if they have jumped on the Halloween displays yet.  Have not yet visited Safeway either in the last week. And our town is going to get Walgreens store soon!  I'm going to try to apply there (PS, on a sad side note, my summer job ended last week.  I knew it would be temporary, but did not know when exactly it would end).  It looks Walgreens will open later this month.   And right across from Rite Aid!

So anyhow, the Halloween stuff at Kmart has so far included two aisle displays of costumes, as well as another such display on the back wall.  When I walked in yesterday,  only the kids one were up as of yet and today I noticed more, including some adult ones.  I saw one called Zombie Hot Dog. I unfortunately did not get  a picture of that one.  (All the photos were from yesterday, Sept. 5).

Some kids costumes, including a Clownfish (which everyone
knows as Nemo.

Plastic pumpkin containers on the shelves above racks soon to

filled with costumes.  The wall has been filled as of today.

And soon there will be those ubiquitous temporary Halloween stores that pop up in storefronts left empty by retailers that have gone out of business.  These stores will remain in business until after Halloween.  Every year  these carry the same scary decor and wire racks of packaged costumes.   Last year Gilroy, CA had both Spirit and Halloween City, and the HC was next door to where I worked in that city until this past June. Now there doesn't appear to be  Halloween City in Gilroy this year (according to their website), but Gilroy has always had a Spirit Store which has not as of yet opened.  It's taking over the building abandoned by Office Max several years ago, next door to Pet Co.  I will be there when it opens.   Last year, I got a Pink Ladies jacket at Halloween City and paired it with a poodle skirt found at Goodwill.  Not sure what to do this year yet.

And while I was at Kmart I just had to get my first bag of candy corn this year.  Another thing that goes with fall and Halloween.